Blog Post 7

I was moved beyond words while watching Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. After learning about his health condition and his only having a short time left to live I was amazed with his demeanor, character, and just his happiness in general. I only hope that if ever put in a similar situation I could remain so gracious and use even that as a teaching tool. God bless him and his family.

I personally think that Mr. Pausch would be the perfect teacher to have. He seems to have all the characteristics of a perfect teacher. He remained focused on "enabling others to achieve their dreams" which in turn was part of his achieving his own personal dreams. I think that is exactly what all teachers should be striving for, enabling their students.

I was amazed further when Mr. Pausch went on to tell about how he focused on a way of teaching in "alice" that showed students how to do something really hard and complicated but since it was fun to them they responded eager to learn or have fun. He went about teaching, not in the traditional sense of textbook learning, but leaning more to project base learning and hands on experience (much like this class) where his students learned by doing something themselves vs. reading about someone else doing it. I through experience have learned that not only does this seem to be the most rewarding aspect of learning but it also seems to be more of what sticks with me through life. He was there as a teacher to set the expectation, challenge, affirm good behaviors, and help students correct some not so good behaviors.

Mr. Randy Pausch has definitely challenged me in this video and inspired me to be the best teacher possible. I cannot imagine better attributes in a teacher or person in general. After watching his video my interest was piqued so I googled "alice" and was able to find the website for the "alice" program that he kept mentioning. Since my major, prior to my switch to secondary education, was computer science I found this whole idea very interesting and am currently in the process of downloading some of the software to try. I am very excited.

Thank you Randy Pausch for your dedication to achieving your childhood dreams which in turn drove you in your dedication to be an amazing teacher. I hope to be even have an ounce of your wisdom and teaching abilities.